Print edition: 
STILLWATER, Okla. —Joseph Randle is becoming a pretty big man on the Oklahoma State campus. Wherever he goes, people stop him to tell him how great he's doing as a running back for the sixth-ranked Cowboys, who have one of the nation's most explosive offenses.
But, strangely, nobody ever asks Randle about being the "next" Oklahoma State back from Wichita.
"I really don't think a lot of people realize we're from the same city,'' said Randle, who went to Southeast and squashed the recruiting process flat by committing to Oklahoma State early. "Until I tell them. Then they start asking me stuff.''
The Legend of Barry Sanders is alive and well in Stillwater. Go into any restaurant and you'll probably see pictures of him hanging on the walls. Twenty-three years after becoming Oklahoma State's only Heisman Trophy winner, Sanders, who went to North, is still a very big deal.
Yet Randle, somewhat embarrassed to even be mentioned in the same breath as the greatest Cowboys of them all, has never met the OSU legend. They've never had that moment when they've talked about their upbringing in Wichita or the similarity of their recruiting journey.
Sanders, amazingly, wasn't highly-recruited out of North. A few schools asked about him and less than that were interested enough to offer a scholarship.
Randle drew more attention, but not by much. That's one of the reasons he jumped at OSU's scholarship offer and later turned down overtures, he said, from Kansas and Kansas State.
Of course, Randle is no Sanders. But through four games in Oklahoma State's pass-happy offense, Randle has 461 rushing yards and seven touchdowns. He has also caught 16 of quarterback Brandon Weeden's passes for 121 yards.
And to hear Weeden tell it, there's so much more Randle can — and will — do.
"He makes our offense so much better, it's unbelievable,'' said Weeden, who does a fair job of making OSU's offense good himself, having passed for nearly 400 yards per game. "He's so diverse in everything he can do. He'll catch it out of the backfield, he'll run between the tackles, he'll do it all. And we really haven't even tapped into what he can do. So far, everything has been real basic.''
Randle is OK with the vanilla, as long as he knows the Neapolitan is coming. The OSU offense definitely falls under the category: Don't fix what isn't broken.
Who knows how many points the end-zone frequenting Cowboys might tally against Kansas on Saturday in Stillwater? Put one of the nation's best offenses against one of its worst defenses and get ready to gasp.
"It's going to be interesting to see what we do with Joseph as we get further down our schedule,'' Weeden said. "We're going to pull more out of him, I know that. He's too good of a player not to do that. It's just hard for me to believe he's a sophomore.''
Randle had a fine freshman season at Oklahoma State, playing in back of one of the Cowboys' all-time greats, Kendall Hunter, who made his first start last weekend for the San Francisco 49ers.
Even in a part-time role, Randle came up big with 979 yards of total offense and three touchdowns. He showed flashes of what he could be.
"They put me in games last year when I needed to do something,'' Randle said. "I was really kind of a role player last year and I played my role. Working with Kendall was fun. But it's even better this season because now it's my turn.''
One of the biggest reasons Randle chose OSU was because he thought he could get playing time early. He was satisfied in a back-up role as a freshman, but ultimately wanted to be the No. 1 tailback.
After he committed to Oklahoma State in mid-October of his senior season, Randle said, other schools continued to call, hoping they could persuade him to change his mind.
It wasn't going to happen. Randle fell in love with Oklahoma State — the facilities, the coaches, the players. At the time, it didn't really occur to him that another running back from Wichita was in some ways the face of the program.
"I've never even met Barry Sanders and only seen him once,'' Randle said.
That was at the 2009 season opener against Georgia during a dedication of the newly-renovated T. Boone Pickens Stadium. Sanders was there to be honored, said Randle, one of several high school players and potential recruits in the stadium that day.
"I was in the locker room before the game and Barry was way up ahead of me,'' Randle said. "I wanted to go get his autograph but I didn't want to sprint up there and tackle him. I might have missed him; Barry's probably still got it.''
To this day, the two Oklahoma State running backs with Wichita ties haven't shaken hands. Sanders hasn't put his arm around Randle and told him how it was in Stillwater during the late 1980s. And Randle hasn't gotten to ask Sanders all the questions that surely swim through his head.
Perhaps that day will come.
Until then, Randle is determined to be the absolute second-best Oklahoma State running back from Wichita ever.
He comes from a running back family. Brothers Larry (Emporia State) and John (Kansas, Southern Illinois) were also outstanding football players.
Their father, Larry Sr., coached all three of his boys when they were growing up and was just as demanding for each.
"I was the ball boy when John was at Southeast and all of us have always been there to support one another,'' Joseph Randle said. "Who doesn't look up to their older brothers? Who doesn't want to play like their older brothers?''
John's career at KU, which started with a promising freshman season, was eventually cut short because of six run-ins with Lawrence police.
"Life happens,'' Joseph Randle said of his brother's problems. "Everybody can't say that they went down a perfect road. You learn from situations.''
John found a smoother road at Southern Illinois and Joseph is happy at Oklahoma State. He says there's nothing special about Saturday's game against the Jayhawks, except that its one of 12 — or probably 13 — the Cowboys will play this season.
Randle cherishes them all. And sooner or later, Cowboys fans will recognize there's another terrific Wichitan in the OSU backfield.
"Everybody here remembers what Barry Sanders did when he was here,'' Randle said. "Talk to some of the older guys around here and they have a story to tell about how they thought he was going to score a touchdown every time he touched the football. Every player on our team has heard those stories from Coach (Mike) Gundy because he played with Barry.''
So far, though, the comparisons have been muffled. Sanders is Sanders and Randle is Randle.
"Maybe if I get a little better, then there will be some of those comparisons,'' Randle said. "But I'm pretty sure it's going to be a while for that to happen.''
